Well, it’s definitely been a long while since I’ve actually written anything here. The tweets stopped coming as well. I’ve been doing more video gaming than actual wargaming, and before that, I was running events and not really playing.
Tonight, I get back to the gaming! Tomorrow, I’ll start the modeling (I hope)! This Saturday will be a tournament!! All the while there’ll be a couple video games I’ll be wanting to play…
The miniatures hobby sort of took an unexpected hiatus. I ran some events and played some WARMACHINE games over the past few weeks. However, whenever I’m in the house, I’m drawn to my computer to play video games. League of Legends. Now it pervades my thoughts. When I was crossing the street to go to Starbucks, I was thinking, “Master Yi would cross it using his Alpha Strike.” I was planning on heading to my parents’ after work to watch some movies and visit, but now I’m changing my mind to go to my home to play some LoL and take advantage of the final day of my XP boost. Yup – I spent money on a “free” game.
Retribution models collecting dust. Unfinished Berserkers and Drago. Bare metal War Dog. Podcasts to listen to. Prime MK2 on the horizon. Infinity and Anima Tactics models to paint. Grind to paint up. I even plan on doing “quick jobs” to finish up and catch up, but I can’t even make the time to break out the paint set!
I am complaining that I am having fun with something I rather not :)
Primed my Great Bears black and left them on my desk. Strangely, it’s an incentive to get those 15 IFP models done and off my table, literally, because I can’t use my computer without stabbing my arms and hands on their pikes.
I got called off to my parents to eat dinner, so I went to watch National Treasure 2 (with Nicholas Cage) on my PS3. Entertaining and fun movie – I don’t see much of those lately. Next I loaded up Resident Evil 5, which I’m finding quite entertaining as well. I’m on chapter 4 and finished up to 5, and it has been a lot of fun fighting machine-gun toting “infected”, lickers, reapers, etc.
I’ve been playing conservatively with my ammo, smashing skulls and spines with my stun rod, which unfortunately is quite annoying given the style of gameplay. Last night I was quite liberal with the shotgun and scoped rifle. There’s a morbid sense of satisfaction and power from destroying bugs and zombies at a distance. When you whack a zombie with the stun rod, they just simply fall over, shake a bit and dissolve.
Anyways, the trade off to boring melee combat with the stun rod (all you can do is swing – it’s not a melee-based game after all) is the expenditure of ammo?! I was starving for ammo. I have tons in my stash, but I want to keep it there. My weapons are not upgraded, as I’ve been conservative with my cash too. I want to upgrade my weapons so that I kill better… faster…
So I turned to the online FAQs to see how I can spend my money. It’s when I learned about infinite ammo. Now I’m anxious to get back to my parents’ and play some more. That’s when I realized that no video game has made me excited and anxious about playing it for fun in a long while. Disgaea 3 was fun, but the desire to play it stemmed from compulsion. Last game was perhaps Metal Gear Solid 4, and Dynasty Warriors 6 before that. RE5, it’s about good-ol zombie blasting, with enough RPG elements to make it fun for me :)
First off, I swore off all MMOs. They tend to lead me down unhealthy paths. In the case of MMOs, I’m not really giving them a chance since Atlantica Online has already “sucked me in”. What I really mean is that if I’m having fun, and it doesn’t feel like a chore or disrupting my life in unhealthy ways, then it should be okay. It’s just about discipline. So I’ll be committed to Atlantica Online for some time.
On another note, I should also be giving my hundreds/thousands of dollars worth of WARMACHINE/HORDES some attention and pick up the paint brush again. That’s an “investment” wasting away and collecting dust on my shelves. The incentive is a 750-point Steamroller tournament on March 7th :) The goal isn’t to win the tournament – it’s to revitalize the game (and hobby) within my mind.
The perfectionist in me is already “wasting” time looking for a Rarity 0 Barefoot X in Disgaea 3. I settled for Rarity 7 and will pump up my Lovers Cupid bow while looking for a Rarity 0 Rank 40 Bow ^_^ That way my Thief with Lucky Finger, “Solid Snake” (ya ya, Thieves are female), will have an easier time dishing out 10million+ damage to treasure chests without assistance. Does any of this make sense to you? Play Disgaea 3!
Being only able to play Disgaea 3 elsewhere, I needed something for the home! Diablo 2 got old again. Its “revival” after the announcement of Diablo 3 saw lots of players returning for nostalgic purposes, me included. Lots of games to join to cater to whatever level you are at. Nowadays, they number fewer and less diverse. It’s a fight to find a spot for those few Tristam runs to get you to level 15. I find that the majority of the games are trades and Hell Baal runs (run by bots). I’m not even interested in outfitting my characters anymore since the rewards have steadily declined, especially when 5-minute runs for zero rewards is a bummer for me.
Anyways, I discovered Atlantica Online, a turn-based MMORPG, via banner ad on a gaming site (while looking for Disgaea information). Turn-based and free-to-play (F2P) was enough to get me to download the client at least. Installed it and jumped into a very generic fantasy world with very generic fantasy music. However, the combat system is what pulled me into the system! It’s very reminiscent of old-school JRPGs and I really like how formations work out. Other than that, the game is VERY linear in terms of progression and story, but I’m enjoying it plenty so far.
There’s already enough variety in the few available classes that I’ve already made 3 characters and going to experiment with a 4th (after my 1-day “delete character” standby clears). I had a boring Swordsman main with a Archer, Rifle, Spear and Shaman team. My cannon main with Sword, Spear and Viking front and Shaman, Monk and Rifle rear was more fun until my cannon stopped killing stuff fast, so they’re now equipping my newest team – Axe main with 2 spears front with Shaman, Monk and Rifle rear. Ya ya, Axe main, very original, I know.
Well, first day back to work in the new year. This holiday season I pretty much stayed glued to a television set. Played Disgaea 3 on my roommates’ tiny HDTV, but they only have the standard RCA cables, and the game pretty doesn’t support 480p without giving you migraines and messing up your eyes. Brought my HDMI cable and bam, things were so much better!! Got a couple thousand levels over the holiday (no joke). Superstitious paranoia (comes with age?) prevented me from going out to events I was invited to :( That same paranoia made me purchase lotto tickets, lotto scratchers, and help out and donate to TWO solicitors who actually came by on NYE.
So, I have to paint a couple of WARMACHINE figures which are going to be my birthday presents to a few friends. Gotta set aside time for that.
Wow. The last week was totally unproductive. I’ve been playing Disgaea 3 whenever I had free time. After reading about how to efficiently level, I’m already seeing and enjoying new parts of the game that I wouldn’t have been able to see until 300 hours later at the rate I was going previously. Exciting. Unfortunately, the game is draining all my free time because I have to plan on playing it – my PS3 is located at my parents’. I even spent one night there, just so that I could stay up late and then go to work the next day. The Disgaea series… the ultimate food for OCD.